


My Struggle IV, My Way

by Amorfati32



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-07 01:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14070285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amorfati32/pseuds/Amorfati32
Summary: I got mad at the SERIES finale, so I've rewritten the ending.





	My Struggle IV, My Way

**Author's Note:**

> It's bad, but it's not Chris Carter bad.

“Let him go Scully.” Mulder insists, standing before Scully in the warehouse, trying to stop her chasing after their son. 

“We can protect him.”

“We can’t protect him. No one can. He knows that you love him,” he continues, his voice pained.

“How can he know that? How can he possibly know what?”

Realization suddenly dawns on Scully as she takes in his words, hears the sound of his voice breaking. It’s then she knows that the man standing before her is not Mulder. Mulder would never say that, he would never willingly give up their son, not now that they have him back, and he knows she feels the same. He would never even suggest letting him go, not after all they’ve been through. “William…” She says, reaching out to place a hand on his arm. “William, I’m not letting you go.”

Aware that she’s now on to him, Mulder – William – wavers unsteadily on his feet. “You have to,” he replies, his voice thick with emotion, tears clouding his eyes. “It’s not safe for you.”

“I’m your mom.” Scully’s own eyes are stinging with tears, but she wills herself not to cry. She needs to be strong for her baby. Her one and only. “I let you go once and regretted it every day since. I should have been stronger for you then, but I thought it was for the best and I’m…” She pauses, swallowing hard, trying to compose herself. “I’m sorry, I love you and I want to protect you. Your father and I promise we’ll protect you.”

“It’s not safe.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re our son. It’s what parents do, and it’s what I should have done years –”

“Scully!”

Both William and Scully tense as they hear Mulder – the real Mulder’s – voice, and moments later he’s running towards them. He doesn’t seem surprised to see their son impersonating him, but he seems desperate to reach him. “Don’t let him go!”

William looks as though he’s still debating whether or not to run away, but she squeezes his arm reassuringly, willing him to stay with her. “It’s okay,” she calls out, not entirely sure if she’s addressing Mulder or William. Maybe both.

As Mulder approaches them, Scully suddenly takes a step forward and does what she’s been dreaming about for the past sixteen years ; she pulls her son into her arms, feeling William slump against her. “It’s okay,” she repeats, saying it over and over again in her head like a mantra. Maybe if she tells herself it’s okay, it will be. “We’ll keep you safe.” They’ll certainly die trying, she thinks to herself.

When William pulls back he looks like his normal self again, and for the first time in over sixteen years Scully looks into the eyes of her son. She wants to capture the image in her mind for eternity, she wants to process what’s happening, but they don’t have time. They need to go now. As though hearing her thoughts William nods, albeit reluctantly, and it’s all she and Mulder need to kick them into action.

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” Mulder says, well aware their enemies are hot on their heels. He’s not quite sure how they’re going to do it, but he knows he has rounds left in his gun, and he’s going to use every last one of them to get William and Scully out alive.

“How?” William asks. He sounds so defeated, as though he’s already given up.

Thankfully Scully seems to be thinking straight. “Can you…” She points to his face, her meaning clear. “Again if you need to?”

“Yeah.” He’s sporting a nervous look and Scully can’t imagine what’s going through his mind right now. He’s only seventeen, she thinks to herself sadly. He should be hanging out with friends, having fun, getting fake ID and drinking too much rather than fearing for his life. 

“Let’s go.” Together they make a run for it, Mulder leading with his gun poised as they simultaneously listen out for company while trying to look out for the exit. It almost seems too easy as they make their way through the warehouse without any signs of company, and moments later they realize it was. 

They’re hurrying round a corner when suddenly they come face to face with CGB Spender, on his way to hunt them down. He doesn’t seem surprised to see the three of them together, instead sporting a look of smug satisfaction. He clearly hoped they’d be together – less effort to track them down as a family, take them down as a family. Without warning he pulls out a gun and points it at Mulder. They stop in their tracks. 

“You really don’t give up, do you?” he asks, almost smugly. “But then you have so much to lose. It’s what we both have in common.”

Mulder suddenly finds his voice. “We have nothing in common.” He means it, he has no connections to his monster.

“The boy is mine,” Spender continues, but before he can finish, Scully steps forward in front of her son.

“He’s ours.” She lifts her gun and fires a bullet into Spender’s face, not even flinching as his brains fly out the back of his head, splattering on the ground. “That’s for my son,” she hisses, before firing again. “That’s for Mulder, and that…” His face no more, Scully instead aims her gun at Spender’s crotch and fires. “…is from me, you black-lunged bastard.”

When she looks up, Mulder and William are staring at her; Mulder a look of understanding on his face, relief too, William uncertainty. She lowers her weapon, takes a shaky breath and nods. “Okay,” she whispers. “We need to go.”

Mulder wraps an arm around William, urging him on and as a family they run out of the building, spotting their car in the distance, the end in sight. They’re sprinting towards the vehicle, Mulder letting go of his son to outrun him and head to the driver’s side when suddenly they hear Spender’s men approaching them from behind. Shots are fired just as Mulder reaches the door and opens it, throwing himself into the vehicle, while Scully and William aim for the backseat trying to dodge the bullets. Lights from another car appear, getting brighter as it approaches, and Scully’s reaching for the door to her own vehicle as it pulls up alongside. William pushes her into the car ahead of him, and is just about to follow her when a bullet catches his back, throwing him onto the floor. 

“William!” Scully looks on in horror as her son falls to the ground, instantly scrambling from the car to get at him. She barely registers the door to the other car opening, someone getting out and stepping near her, too eager to get at the wound, to try and staunch the bleeding. Suddenly fresh shots ring out, closer this time, and Scully braces herself for impact. When nothing happens she tears her gaze away from her son, looking up into the eyes of Monica Reyes, who’s firing insistently at the men in front of her, a gun in each hand. “What…?”

“I’m sorry Dana. I did it to help you.” Monica says, regret in her eyes. “Skinner and I…we couldn’t tell you…”

“Monica…”

“Go…” The other woman orders, realizing she’ll soon be unable to hold off Spender’s men. “Go now!”

Scully tugs at her son, trying to pull him up, but William seems a dead weight in her arms. Lowering her gun, Reyes crouches down, grabs at William’s other arm and tugs, both she and Scully managing to lift the boy and push him into the car. Following him inside, Scully turns to thank Monica, to suggest that she escapes with them, when suddenly Monica closes the door, her meaning clear. Mulder backs the car up just as a bullet enters Monica’s brain and she slumps to the ground, Scully yelling out in horror as she watches the whole thing. Struggling to take all of it in, she returns her attention to William. “The bullet’s deep Mulder,” she cries, tears trailing down her cheeks. “We need to get him to the hospital.”

“Scully…” She can hear it in his voice, that it’s not possible, but she knows it has to be.

“He’s losing a lot of blood Mulder, if he doesn’t get hospital treatment he’s going to d…” She trails off as suddenly William jolts in her arms, slowly regaining consciousness. Her eyes widen in shock as William sits up stretches out and blinks over at her. “What happened?” he asks, seemingly unaware of what’s just transpired.

“You…You were….” Scully looks at Mulder in the driver’s seat, grateful he’s able to keep the vehicle on the road, watching as he simply shrugs, unable to explain it himself. “You were shot.”

“Oh…” William’s arm slides around his back as he feels the bullet lodged in him.

“You’re bleeding William, we need to get you to a hospital.”

He shakes his head, remarkably unfazed. “I’m fine.”

“William, you were shot.”

“I’m not bleeding any more…” He almost seems embarrassed. “I can do that,” he adds hesitantly, as though worried what her expression will be. “I can heal.”

She knows it’s not the first time he’s done this, remembering just a few short months ago when he was wrapped up in a body bag. A thousand thoughts run through Scully’s mind but she ignores them all, instead wrapping her arms around her son and sobbing into his neck. “I thought we were going to lose you again.”

This time, William hugs her back, and moments later Scully feels her son’s body start to shake, shock setting in. She pulls back to quickly remove her coat, wrapping it round him and pulling him back into her arms. “It’s okay baby,” she says, rocking him gently, remembering a time when it was the only way he’d get to sleep. “It’s all over.”

“They’ll come for me,” he sniffs, emotion starting to get the better of him.

“We won’t let them.”

“They’ll keep coming for me until they kill me. They’ll kill you too. You should let me go.”

“We know these people William,” Mulder says, feeling helpless up in the driving seat. His gaze darts between the road and his rear-view mirror, relieved that for now they’re not being followed. They owe their lives to Monica Reyes and they’ll allow themselves to grieve for her shortly, once they’re out of immediate danger. But for now Mulder drives, trying to reassure his son. “We’re not going to let you do this alone.”

“Where are we going?”

“Far away.”

William looks at his mom questioningly, surprised when she gives him a small smile. “We’ll keep moving,” she says. “Your dad and I have experience in this.”

“You do?”

“We’ll tell you about it sometime,” Mulder says, gripping the wheel tightly.

Scully retrieves her cell phone from her pocket, scrolling through until she spots the familiar name. She dials without hesitation, the phone ringing twice before a man answers. “John?” she says, sighing wearily. “We need your help.”

As Scully talks, William settles his head against her shoulder, allowing his eyes to close. All of the running and hiding over the past few months is catching up with him, and suddenly he’s tired, so so tired. He drifts off, his mother’s voice in his ear, his parents’ presence comforting. Scully holds her son tightly. It won’t be easy, she thinks to himself. They’ll be in danger yet again. William will demand answers soon, about why they gave him up. There’ll be arguments ahead, accusations, regrets, apologies and tears, but, finally finally, she thinks, they’re together.


End file.
